This invention relates to a cassette containing are recording carrier in tape form, together with means for transporting the recording carrier tape along an information transfer member forming part of the means for reading and/or writing and/or erasing the recording carrier tape.
A cassette of this kind, particularly one containing an optical recording carrier in tape form, is known from Dutch Preliminary Published Patent Application No. 79.07289. The means for transporting the recording carrier tape consists in this case of two reels together with a reflector member over which the optical tape is guided during its transport from one reel to the other, in such a manner that the tape is brought into a defined position with respect to a window in the cassette wall, through which the light beam of an optical read/write head can reach the optical tape.
One problem which occurs in particular in the transporting of the information carrier tape in a cassette is the fact that the tape, viewed on a microscopic scale, does not run at a monotonous or uniform speed, but moves in jerks and jumps along the aforesaid window, so that the reading or writing process of the recording carrier tape is impaired. Another problem is that the tightness of the winding of the tape on the reels varies, so that there is no fixed relationship between the microscopic position of the tape and the position of the reels, even with uniform tractive force applied on the tape.
Although the present invention relates in particular to a cassette containing an optical recording carrier in tape form, the problems mentioned above also occur in cassettes containing magnetic recording carriers in tape form, such as audio and video cassettes.